Wheel vs Semi

[unclejack37]

When I shoot the Ruger 357 revolver or RIA 1911 slow; they are equal, but If I try to speed it up the 1911 is way ahead of the wheel gun. The weight of each gun is about equal so the follow up shots are just about the same. It's just that the 1911 has a real smooth short stroke before it goes bang. The DA of the revolver takes a little more time and strength to make it go bang and my accuracy suffers because of that.

[Doc Holliday 1950]

Once again I took just one gun to my
range today. This time I took my 2”
357 in magnum revolver & had similar
results to last weeks use of my G43.
I mostly shot SA at 15 & 25 feet respectively
The only difference this time was I taped
a 3x5 index cards on my target at various
Spots. This gave me a better understanding
of how accurate I was. My 2” & my G43 are
my 2 carry guns 98% of the time. My other
2 are my G19 & my 686 + 3” 357 in magnum.
Both are a tad uncomfortable to carry concealed
but are doable. Both of these I am more
accurate do to length & weight of both in my
humble opinion.
The best advice that I can come up with is
to practice practice practice with whichever
you carry. I’ve only once ever drew my Revolver
and hope I never ever have to do so again.

[briandg]

I believe that there are very few people who can perform well and equally well with two different guns.

you can find people of extreme talent, and you can find people who have gone to great lengths to be 'ambidextrous,' so to speak., but as a general rule, I have not met anyone who can get accuracy and speed performance with a revolver that he can get with a semiautomatic.

You do have a long trigger draw that stumps some people. even so, that trigger pull takes longer than a semi auto pull. even if it's just a half second, time is time.

Every shooter owes it to both himself and the shootiing community at large to learn. To be capable of understanding and using as many weapons as possible.

Figure it this way. You're driving past old leonard's house and to your amazement, a cougar has his wife trapped up the old cottonwood tree. Darn it, you left your super blackhawk in your other suit. you had better find and use one of old leonard's guns, and quickly, because she's having to swat at the thing with a stick.

What I have found is that leonard always drives a stick, hides his remotes, and hunt's deer with an antique rolling block that is as stubborn as his wife. Can you save her? or are you still going to be trying to load the fool thing while her wet corpse is being dragged into the bushes?

[osbornk]

I shoot my semi-autos both faster and more accurately than my revolver but I normally carry my revolver for 2 simple reasons. It is a hammerless 357 Magnum snub nose and I know it is not going to have an accidental discharge due to my actions and I know it will fire regardless of the circumstances. To me, safety and reliability trumps speed and accuracy at self defense distances.

[tallball]

"I have not met anyone who can get accuracy and speed performance with a revolver that he can get with a semiautomatic."


You haven't met me, but I can. As a teenager I was allowed to roam the local woods and fields shooting my Ruger Single Six 22 after I had proven that I always followed the basic safety rules. When I was 21 my two SD handguns were a 4" 357 and a 2"38.

As a middle-aged man I own slightly more semi-automatics than revolvers, but I feel more comfortable with the revolvers and tend to be more accurate with them. Obviously I can blast out more shots faster with my favorite CZ75 than I can with my favorite revolvers, but given the same amount of shots in the same amount of time, I will shoot my preferred revolvers better.

By the late 1980's, I not only owned the above-mentioned revolvers, I also had a Beretta 92, a Russian Makarov, and a BHP. They are all excellent pistols that I still own. I shoot them well. For whatever reason I shoot my best revolvers a little better than my best semi-automatic pistols.

Maybe they just fit my hands better or something?

[stephen426]

I think a lot has to do with the trigger and sights.

A nice single-action trigger on a revolver is hard to beat, especially compared to a stock Glock trigger. The Glock trigger can be improved significantly with the many after-market triggers on the market.

As for sights, Glock sights are great for rapid sight acquisition, but is not the most precise. The front post on Glock is fairly wide and the rear sight opening is fairly wide for rapid sight acquisition. How are the sights on your revolvers?

The other thing to consider is the sight radius. While the barrel on the revolver may be shorter than the barrel on the Glock, the sight radius can be pretty close to the semi-auto since the rear sights are behind the cylinder.

A Ransom Rest would eliminate shooter error and maximize the precision.

[peacefulgary]

A nice single-action trigger on a revolver is hard to beat, especially compared to a stock Glock trigger.

But that's comparing apples to oranges.

A revolver single-action trigger has very little travel and very little poundage.

But when you compare a revolver double-action trigger to a Glock trigger, the revolver does not shine so brightly.
13 pounds finger pressure combined with 1/2" of trigger travel does not contribute to accuracy IMHO.

[44 AMP]

But when you compare a revolver double-action trigger to a Glock trigger, the revolver does not shine so brightly.
13 pounds finger pressure combined with 1/2" of trigger travel does not contribute to accuracy IMHO.

#1) that is also an apples to oranges comparison. If you want to be fair comparing DA trigger pulls, you need to compare revolver DA to semi auto DA triggers.

#2) GLock triggers are not always the "perfection" claimed by their marketing dept. Now, maybe I got my hands on the "only" one that wasn't perfection to come off their assembly line in the last 20 years, but I kind of doubt it...

I forget the exact model #, but the gun was a compact .45. I put 250rnds through it, and the trigger pull was horrid. It was inconsistent, literally changing every shot, or every couple. Every combination of long, short, heavy, and light were randomly encountered. EVERY time the trigger was pulled a different combination occurred. There were a few times the trigger felt the same for two consecutive shots, but never 3 shots in a row.
No pistol should do that. It was bought new on Friday, shot on Saturday, and sold slightly used on Monday.

My point here is that there are examples of exceptions to every "rule" of performance you care to name, so I don't think its particularly useful to compare anything other than actual individual guns.

Don't leave out the differences between people, it's the most variable, and important part. Shooters range from the guy who can bend 1/2" rebar with his bare hands to someone who is lifting 1/4 (or 1/3!) of their body weight picking up a 30lb bag of dog food. And, physical capability is just one variable. Skill is another. All possible combinations exist, so blanket statements have lots of "holes" in them...

[ifithitu]

I have both,never had one of my wheel's jam,can't say that about my semi's.lol

[shurshot]

I like both, but tend to shoot far better with revolvers. I was brought up on them.